From great philosophers in ancient Greek to the age of Renaissance, age of Enlightment to the 21st century, our knowledge has accumulated exponentially, especially during the past 50 years. We also enjoy much more advanced systems of education, learning and communication. However, does human mind also develop or "evolve" and become smarter or more wiser than before? Or maybe dumber? What do you think about our future?
"There is nothing new under the Sun, except the forgotten" (George Santayana)
To find (at least) SOME ideas on the way to answer your question I would suggest reading the inspiring book of Julian Jaynes "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind "...
We are not smarter comparing to people lived long time before us. We can learn more about unrelated to our survival things, we live longer and usually stay in better shape after 30 - 35 years - the age when people of Iron Age supposed to die. But, I am sure that all the people who survived and grown up their kids at that time were smarter than 90% of us, living in this safe world. Speaking about amount of information that they have learned in life - it was probably much larger than we have. It was not so explainable, but accumulated in generations, and more valuable for every day life.
I agree with Michael Noll "There is nothing new under the Sun, except the forgotten
Given that there are a growing number of people newly espousing the 6000-year-old Earth theory, I think we can all agree that there have always been dangerous light bulbs in the light bulb factory for untold generations. Access to education, and then, what you decide to educate yourself with ultimately determines one's degree of ability to interface constructively with reality. If it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, then we each have about 70 skills we can master during our lives. Our brains are forever self-trainable - no matter the time period. If that means mastering a 300-year-old classical piano masterpiece, just say 'yes.'
Dear Daniel
When it comes to intelligence, almost immediately relate the word with the cultural background that a person has . Be more or less intelligent is seen as having more or less , a set of information to ensure that the insertion in social activities .
Intellectual development is beyond cultural factors . What makes us intelligent and educated not only is processing the information we take in every day. What happens is that humans are not simply data and information processors .
In any process of intellectual development of man there is a network of private feelings and emotions that interfere to a greater or lesser degree in the process . Motivation, satisfaction and pride that emotions are in some extent promote the evolution of individual exponentially , but rather fear, distress or uncertainty can cause a blockage that inhibits intellectual processing of information into knowledge
Being among the woven, from the very elusive fabric of the universe,
By no mistake of our own do we already know something about it ...
The dust in our hearts -- so like pheromone from a gravid star,
Informs us of nameless things and how familiar they are ...
No matter how small, and no matter how seemingly far,
It's magellanically delicious - upstream caviar,
The collective “we,” like lcarus nearing the fire; students
unto the grasp entire ...
Quieting thalamus -- subconscious writ, upon Turk's saddle
does the wish for body sit; extensions form to experience it.
It's difficult for me to understand how anyone could possibly argue otherwise. The human intellect is always developing. Science is a good example. The saying "there is nothing new under the sun" is a proverb compatible (when understood as a proverb) with the notion that the human intellect is constantly evolving and developing as the human knowledge base widens and we become accustomed to new scientific and technological discoveries, etc.
Perhaps 2000 years is not a long enough time-span to see a noticeable difference in brain physiology, but one might imagine that the prefrontal cortex and perhaps the pineal gland would grow, while the amygdala would tend to interface differently over a larger time-frame. The tools we have today reflect the capabilities that have been in us far more than 2000 years at this point. The dual discoveries of calculus, the laser, and the digital computer bear testament to our collective ability to advance new concepts and discoveries together; but that glint has merely been a long-standing feature within our species. The human brain has always been 'capable.' Add a dash of testosterone and ruin history for awhile, but we'll eventually undo that as well - we're intelligent enough.
Human intellect is evolving [for good or bad!!] with time. In my opinion, we have developed the ability to reason, plan events in a better way, developed smarter tricks to solve problems, documentations, languages etc. We have learnt from the past, still learning from what all happening around us and our vision has widened. We are now exposed to technologies that have created (virtual-) platforms to go for discussions and subsequent need based development.
In spite of all these, it remains a topic of debate!!
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